Stumbling Stone Markt 44

This memorial stone (so called Stolperstein of stumbling block) commemorates:

* Jakob Hess, born 1916, admitted 1934 Kalmenhof ‘Sanitorium’, murdered August 1939.

Jakob Hess’s father (also Jakob Hess) was a bricklayer, and his mother was an unskilled worker. Jakob was born in Frankfurt, the 2nd of 5 children. A sister died of diphtheria in infancy. His parents divorced in the 1920s, and Jakob’s mother (Anna Pelkner) had responsibility for him. She was overwhelmed. In 1931, he was admitted to an institution in Bielefeld. His brother Heinrich (who survived the war) reported Jakob was doing well, working in carpentry, and might have been able to live independently. In 1933, Anna and Heinrich moved to another section of Frankfurt. The next year, Jakob was sent to a state sanitorium, Kalmenhof. She and Heinrich visited him there. In 1939, she received a standard telegram with the message that Jakob had experienced a different attack or seizure and his body was already buried. Circumstances of his death are not known, but his mother and other parents of dead patients were suspicious. At the Kalmenhof care center today is a plaque listing the names of "euthanasia" victims, including those murdered before Action T-4 was formally implemented. Jakob Hess is included, with the date of his murder: 19 August 1939. He was 23.

The wife of his brother Heinrich was present at the installation of his stolperstein in 2008.

"Stolpersteine" is an art project for Europe by Gunter Demnig to commemorate victims of National Socialism (Nazism). Stolpersteine (stumbling stones) are small, 10x10cm brass plaques placed in the pavement in front of the last voluntary residence of (mostly Jewish) victims who were murdered by the Nazis. Each plaque is engraved with the victim’s name, date of birth, and place (mostly a concentration camp) and date of death. By doing this, Gunter Demnig gives an individual memorial to each victim. One stone, one name, one person. He cites the Talmud: "A human being is forgotten only when his or her name is forgotten."

For more information and pictures, please visit Stolpersteine Frankfurt am Main (in German). Go to: Stolpersteine in der Altstadt, Markt 44.

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Source

• Text: Fedor de Vries & Anne Palmer
• Photos: Sascha Stefan Ruehlow
• Frankfurt.de
• FrankfurterRundschau – Stolperstein für Jakob Hess
• Stolpersteine.eu